Division of Joy

donderdag 4 oktober 2012

On November the
6th The United States citizens will vote their president for the
next four years. Many people all over
the world are looking forward to this day. Will
Obama continue his job, or is Mitt Romney going to be the new man in charge?
Last night the first debate took place and it seems that the American people
think Romney has won the first match.
The campaign started earlier this year. Almost every week teams of the
democrats and the republicans present a new video. There are two different kinds
of campaign videos. The one that eulogize the candidate and the one that tries
to ruin the reputation of their rival. And there is a salient detail that many
viewers don't seem to notice. The music in both kind of videos is quite specific.
Look at these two examples.

Anti Obama ad

Anti Romney ad

Anti videos from both camps. The music used in this footage could be called
melancholic, even a bit depressing. The subliminal message is obvious: when you
vote Barack, the future perspective of The U.S. can’t be good (fill in Mitt if
you’re a democrat adherent).

What you see
here are positive pictures of both candidates. The music used to amplify the
effect could be called uplifting and military. Heroic tunes with marching drums give the
impression of a winner. It really accentuates the message of success.

donderdag 20 september 2012

The last decade there has been a lot of change in the
business we call music industry. For instance, the emergence of the internet.
This medium has become bigger and faster than anyone could have ever dreamt of.
Combine this with the invention of compressing music into a small digital file
called mp3, and there it is: a revolution.
A revolution that hasn’t ended yet, because in the subsequent years after the
invention of mp3 and internet the developments have taken
place at such bizarre rates. Mp3 players, (illegal) download programs and
YouTube were introduced. The only thing the old fashioned record labels could
do, was watch and cry. There was and is no stopping, despite all the effort the
classic music industry puts in trying to sue the modern music branch.
But what has all this modern, digital technique done to the music. So what does
it mean to the artists of the 21st century? First of all there distinguished
two groups of musicians: the ones that are against the digital revolution and
the ones that embrace it and use it in their advantage.
A good example of a band that did embrace the modern possibilities is Radiohead.
They released their second-last album online and everyone who wanted to
download it, could choose how much he or she would like to pay for it. Even £0,
- was fine. Whit this initiative they thwarted the possibility of illegal
downloads.
Another band that owes his fame to the internet is, of course, The Arctic
Monkeys. Before the radio stations picked up their music it was a big hit on
internet already. After the internet success they brought out an album and
became popular and noticed by the mainstream media.
So do new media provide new music? Well, you could say that. Maybe not the way
the music sounds, but the way music is available: fast and for free.

The Arctic Monkeys, definitly more than just an internet hype.

Radiohead, you might say, the biggest band in the alternative music scène at the moment.